The MRI examination poses no risk to the average patient if appropriate safety guidelines are followed. Patients who have the following conditions can be safely examined with MRI:
- Surgical clips or sutures
- Post-cardiac surgical patients
- Post-cardiac surgical patients
- Artificial joints
- Staples
- Cardiac valve replacements (except the Starr-Edwards metallic ball/cage)
- Disconnected medication pumps
- Vena cava filters
- Brain shunt tubes for hydrocephalus
Do you have any of the following conditions that may make MRI examination inadvisable? If so, ask your doctor.
- Pregnant
- Implanted insulin pump (for treatment of diabetes) or narcotics pump (for pain medication), or implanted nerve stimulators (TENS) for back pain
- Metal in eye or eye socket
- Cochlear (ear) implant for hearing impairment
- Implanted spine stabilization rods
- Severe lung disease (such as tracheomalacia, bronchopulmonary dysplasia)
- Weigh more than 350 pounds
- Unable to lie on back for 30 to 60 minutes
- Claustrophobia (fear of closed or narrow spaces)
- Heart pace maker
- Cerebral aneurysm clip (metal clip on a blood vessel in the brain)